Geraldine Ferraro

DENVER -- In Minnesota for next week’s Republican National Convention, Secretary of State Trey Grayson (R-Richwood) told PolitickerKY.com that many of his colleagues expected a different pick for U.S. Sen. Jon McCain’s (R-Ariz.) presidential ticket.

“Most people up here thought it would be Romney or Pawlenty,” said Grayson, referring to two oft-rumored names: former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

Still, Grayson said Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin – McCain’s actual pick – was in the “top five” and not a “total surprise.”

Grayson sees the McCain-Palin ticket appealing to many in Kentucky – a state which heavily favored U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) over the eventual Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in the May primary. The second-term secretary of state argued many disaffected Clinton supporters could be attracted to McCain’s bid with the addition of Palin.

“I can’t help but think it’ll cause them to look at a McCain-Palin ticket,” said Grayson. “They were excited about having a woman president; maybe they will be excited about having a woman vice president.”

“It certainly won’t have people turning against the ticket,” added Grayson. “It will attract more votes from women.”

The talking points are out.  Sarah Palin, someone who has only been a Governor for 18 months is only a heart beat away from the Presidency.  The John McCain campaign may be running into the biggest roadblock they could face by waiting until the last minute to make this announcement.  The campaign has not had time to prep the media on the talking points they want and the Democrats may be defining his pick before he has a chance to. If the campaign had leaked yesterday that the final candidates in consideration included Palin they could have also released their talking points for the press to consider. Critics with a sense of humor say congratulations to John McCain, he managed to pick someone that is less qualified than Geraldine Ferraro was.

Joseph Biden is the seventh vice presidential nominee from a state that borders New Jersey since William McKinley picked New York Gov. Theodore Roosevelt to run on his ticket in 1900, following the death of Vice President Garrett Hobart, a resident of Paterson.  New Jersey hasn’t cast its electoral votes for a border state VP candidate since U.S. Rep. James Sherman (R-Utica) ran with William Howard Taft in 1908.  New Yorkers Jack Kemp (1996), Geraldine Ferraro (1984), William Miller, (1964), and Franklin Roosevelt (1920) did not carry New Jersey when they ran with Bob Dole, Walter Mondale, Barry Goldwater and James Cox, respectively.   Sherman ran for re-election with Taft in 1912 (he died a few weeks before the election, but Taft decided not to replace him), but New Jersey supported favorite son Woodrow Wilson instead.

Mikulski was influential in this barrier-breaking VP pickWhile it is a faint memory now, there was speculation up until the early summer of 1984 that then-Rep. Barbara Mikulski would make a good running mate for the Democratic presidential nominee.

She was one of three women House members considered for the job, the others being Pat Schroeder of Colorado and the female frontrunner, Geraldine Ferraro of New York. Outside Congress, two minor office-holders who would go on to national prominence -- San Francisco Mayor Diane Feinstein and Texas State Treasurer Ann Richards -- were also considered.

Jeff Merkley may have won a 45%-41% victory in yesterday’s Democratic primary, but it’s rare for a challenger who barely ekes out a primary win to oust incumbent United States Senators in the general election.  Of the twenty challengers to unseat incumbents in U.S. Senate races since 1996, only one did so after winning a primary by a narrower margin than Merkley did.  That was in 1996, when Peter Fitzgerald won a 52%-48% victory over Loleta Didrickson in the Illinois GOP primary, and then went on to defeat incumbent Carol Mosely-Braun.